Thomas Denteith

Thomas Denteith

King's Park Memorial walk, May drive
Personal Information
Date of Birth	not known "not known" contains an extrinsic dash or other characters that are invalid for a date interpretation.
Place of Birth	Manchester, England
Death	11 Apr 1917
Place of Death	Bullecourt, France
Age at Enlistment	42 years
Description	5'7½" (1.71m) tall ; 136 lbs 61.689 kg ; fresh complexion ; brown eyes ; brown hair
Occupation	Mill hand
Religion	Church of England
Address	c/- Karri Timber Co, Barrabupp, Western Australia
Next of Kin	Wife , Mrs. Adelaide Ester Denteith
Military Information
Reg Number	6251
Date of Enlistment	24 May 1916
Rank	Private
Unit/Formation	16th Battalion, 20th Reinforcement / 4th Brigade, 4th Division
Date of Embarkation	13 Oct 1916 ‒ 2 Dec 1916
Ship Embarked On	HMAT A23 Suffolk
Fate	Killed in Action 11 Apr 1917 1st Bullecourt
Monument	Jarrahdale War Memorial Villers-Bretonneux Memorial Jarrahdale Honour Roll ANZAC Memorial Park (Byford) Australian War Memorial
Medals	British War Medal Victory Medal

Pre War

Prior to emigrating to Australia, Thomas had served for 7 years with the 3rd Hussars.

Electoral Roll entries - 1915 - 1916 Barrabupp, mill hand.

War Service

Thomas entered Blackboy Hill camp on 24 May 1916 and on 20 Jul 1916 he was allocated to the 20th reinforcement draft for the 16th Battalion, travelling with them to England aboard HMAT A23 Suffolk which departed Fremantle on 13 Oct 1916 and arrived in England on 2 Dec 1916. On arrival he was sent to the 4th Training Battalion until he was ready for France, when he proceeded overseas through Folkestone aboard HMT Princess Victoria on 16 Jan 1917. On 21 Jan 1917 he had been taken on strength of the 16th Battalion who at that time were in Mametz rebuilding and retraining in addition to providing working parties.

In April, the battalion was a part of the attacking force during a battle that became known as 1st Bullecourt. Large numbers of troops were cut off in German lines when they were failed by both Artillery and tanks, with over a thousand captured. Initially Thomas was marked down as missing in action, and it wasn't until a Court of Enquiry was appointed on 30 Oct 1917 that he was declared to have been killed in action on 11 Apr 1917.

Sadly his Red Cross file is all but non-existent and tells us nothing in relation to the way that Thomas was killed.

• 

  Villers Bretonneu Memorial 2015 - photo L Reynolds
• 

  Portionof 16th Battalion panels - 2015 photo L. Reynolds

Adelaide Esther died in Claremont on 6 Jul 1947, aged 68

Notes

Although his records don't show the link to Jarrahdale other than by occupation, he is listed in the South West Advertiser articles, is on the hand written list held in the Shire of Serpentine Jarrahdale's Library and is included on the Jarrahdale Honour Board.

Son Thomas Harry Denteith served with the 2nd AIF during WW2. AASC Private WX500729.

External Links

• AIF Project
• RSL Memorial